Willimantic, Conn. - Sophomore Sam Hoffman (Greenwich, Conn.) scored on a header in the 18th minute which proved to be the difference as the Trinity College men's soccer team clipped the Eastern Connecticut State Warriors, 1-0, on Wednesday afternoon in Willimantic. This is the fifth straight year the Bantams have defeated the Warriors as Trinity improves to 7-5-2 overall while the Warriors fall to 5-8-1 on the year. Trinity is 5-1-2 in its last eight games.

The only goal of the match came with 18:19 gone. After ECSU freshman midfielder Dimi Dalardha (Hampton, Conn.) cleared a Trinity corner kick out of bounds, a throw-in set up the only goal. After a Fernando Cuervo-Torello (Arlington, Mass.) throw-in, senior captain Tobias Gimand (Copenhage, Denmark) took several touches just outside the box and dropped the ball back to Cuervo-Torello, whose long left-footed serve landed perfectly on the head of Hoffman at the far left post. Hoffman, who had beaten one defender, leaped and knocked the ball inside the far corner, just beyond the reach of Eastern sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Murphy (Cromwell, Conn). 

Trinity junior goalie Mateo Zabala (Paterson, N.J.) came up big in goal for the Bantams as he finished the afternoon with seven saves to earn his first win of the season. Trinity only mustered two shots on goal despite 10 total looks while the Warriors fired 13 total shots with seven of them on net. Murphy's only save kept the match scoreless ten minutes into play when he drove to his left to punch out Oliver Murphy's free kick from nearly 25 yards out.

The Warriors had nine shots in the first half, their best chance coming seven minutes into play when sophomore forward Justin Jensen (Wethersfield, Conn.) ran down a long through-ball and a one-on-one situation with Zabala, but the keeper made the save at the near post from close range.

Trinity returns to action next week as they travel to New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) foe Amherst on Wednesday afternoon for its regular season finale.